Home
by Angelgirl3
Summary: Trance returns to her homeworld but things happen that force her to choose between her home or the Andromeda.(Really bad summary I know but please read and review)
1. The Transmission

  
Disclaimer: I don't own Andromeda or the characters. However, anything or anyone that appears in this story that hasn't been mentioned on the show or any of the web sites is mine.   
  
Timeline: This is set about three years in the future.  
  
Authors Note: I haven't seen the episode "Sum of It's Parts" or any episode after that so anything we found out about Trance I am completely unaware of. Also, I'm really bad with titles so please forgive.  
  
Home  
by   
Angelgirl  
  
Trance hummed as she watered one of her plants in Hydroponics. "There you go Stephanie.", she said as she put the plant back on the shelf and reached for Stephanie's neighbor. The hologram of Andromeda appeared beside her. "Trance I just received a transmission for you."  
  
"Thanks Andromeda. I'll take it here.", Trance replied and walked towards the console. "It's probably from G20023 about those medical supplies."  
  
She walked to the console and tapped a few buttons. She gasped when she saw who it was sending her the message and quickly shut the image off. She turned to the hologram and said, "Actually I'll take it in my quarters."  
  
The hologram looked at her concerned. "Are you alright Trance?" she asked.  
  
"Yes. It's just that... I want to take this in my quarters."  
  
Andromeda nodded and disappeared. Trance walked out of Hydroponics towards her quarters. On her way she met Harper. "Hey Trance!", he said to her.  
  
She looked up in surprise. "Oh! Hi Harper."  
  
Harper walked with her to her quarters. They were talking as they always did. When they reached Trance's quarters she quickly went inside, almost forgetting to tell Harper she'd see him later. She moved to the console asking Andromeda to switch to privacy. Trance tapped a few buttons on the console and watched as a familiar face appeared on the screen and started to speak in her native language. She didn't hear the message the first time it played. She was too busy noticing how different the speaker looked now that she had a better look at her. Her cerulean eyes had sunken into their sockets, her face had become pale and she looked tired and ill. The message ended and Trance played it again. This time paying attention to what the speaker was saying.  
  
"Trance my darling. The war is over and we have won. It is safe to return home now. Please my dear we need you here. Your father is very sick and I am having trouble taking care of him and the others in the village. I hate having to bring you this bad news but dear we need you. The village is in ruins. Please return to us."  
  
A single tear ran down Trance's cheek. "Mother." she said even though the woman could not hear her, "I don't know if I can. I'm needed here too."   
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Dinner and a Decision

  
There was a buzz at the door jolting Trance out of her thoughts. She wondered how long she had been lying on her bed. "Come in." she said trying to make her voice sound as calm as possible.   
  
Beka entered. "Hi Trance."  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Are you OK?"  
  
"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"  
  
"You're late for dinner. You're never late for dinner."  
  
"I am?"  
  
Beka nodded. "What's the matter Trance? Come on you can tell me."  
  
Trance got up saying "I'm fine. I just lost track of the time that's all."  
  
Beka didn't look convinced. "OK Trance. We're still eating are you going to join us?"   
  
"Of course I am." Trance said, trying to make her voice sound eager. She didn't want to go and see everyone. Looking at their faces, seeing them smile and interact would just make it harder to go. 'If I go', she thought.   
  
They entered the Mess where everyone sat, eating. Harper looked up. "Trance babe! What happened to ya?"  
  
"I lost track of the time." she said and sat down beside him. She glanced around the table looking at the faces of her friends. They were all smiling at her except for Tyr who nodded at her and then went back to eating his meal. Three years hadn't changed him much, except he was certainly more trustworthy. Trance picked up a fork and dug it into the salad Rommie had given her, hoping everyone would forget about her tardiness. They soon did and the conversation began again. Trance sat eating her salad not paying attention to anything being said until she heard Isis say "Home." Trance's head shot up and she looked at the sixteen year old. Isis was looking at Dylan obviously waiting for a reply. "Tarn Vedra?" he replied.  
  
Isis nodded. "It was your home right? What was it like?"  
  
"It was beautiful. There were large mountains and forests. The cities where huge and bustling with activity and there were statues honoring great historical figures standing in the middle of great market squares."  
  
Isis smiled. "It sounds nice. I wish I could've seen it."  
  
Trance smiled at her. Isis was so young and curious about everything. She was the newest addition to the crew aswell. Isis saw her smile and said, "So Trance what's your home like?"  
  
Trance dropped her fork. "Oops! Sorry!"  
  
"It's OK Trance.", Rommie said and gave her another. Trance took the fork with a smile and went back to her salad.  
  
"Hello, Trance? Are you going to answer my question?"  
  
"What question?"  
  
"Oh come on Trance!"  
  
By now everyone was staring at her. "You wouldn't be able to pronounce my homes name.", Trance said.  
  
"Yeah, so? I'd like to hear it."  
  
"No, you don't."  
  
Isis nodded. "Oh, I do."  
  
"No believe me you don't." Trance's voice was starting to shake. She got up. "I'm sorry. I'm not feeling too well." She half-walked, half-ran out the door. Isis got up to follow her but Dylan pulled her back down. "I'd give her some time before talking to her."  
  
Isis nodded looking very ashamed of herself. "Sorry."  
  
"It's not your fault Isis. Trance normally doesn't act like that when you ask her about herself. She usually just laughs it off or twists your words around. Believe me, I should know. I've been trying to get the truth outta that girl for three-and-a-half years now." Harper said trying to comfort the girl.  
  
Isis nodded. "I didn't mean to hurt her."  
*********************  
Trance returned to her quarters. Images of the war and her family on her home planet flashed through her mind, followed by images of the Andromeda and her crew. She didn't want to leave but her conscience told her she had to. Her family needed her. Tears came into her eyes. She knew if she left the Andromeda she could never return. When the last tear was shed she got up, fixed her hair and smoothed the creases in her clothes. She had made her decision and she would have to tell Dylan about it now or else she might change her mind.  
  
She exited her quarters and moved through the familiar hallways towards Dylan's quarters. She was about to ring the bell but stopped. Dylan wouldn't let her go without knowing why she had to leave and she couldn't offer an explanation without giving away anything about her people. She moved away from the door and went to the Maru. There she recorded a message for all 13 crewmembers on the Andromeda and then one to Andromeda herself. She told them she had to leave and that she was taking a slipfighter which they could pick up at a nearby station. She was going to buy a small one person ship with money she had been saving for years. When the message was recorded Trance sent it to everyone's quarters, except for the one to Andromeda. She left the Maru and entered another hangar, boarded a slipfighter and opened the hangar doors. Andromeda appeared on one of the screens. "Trance what are you doing?"  
  
"I have to go now." Trance replied and quickly launched the fighter before Andromeda could shut the doors. She then took the message she had recorded and sent it to Andromeda. It wasn't until she entered slipstream that the tears came. They streamed down her face and made it impossible for her to see where she was going. She exited slipstream, leant back in her chair and let the tears fall.  
  
TBC :-)  
  
  
  
  



	3. Inside the Slipstream

  
Trance reached the station and docked the slipfighter. She walked down the corridor and reached a junction. She examined the possibilities and took the left. She made her way through the crowds of people and found who she was looking for. A Than sat on a bench away from the crowds. Trance walked up to the Than and asked "Excuse me. Are you the person who is selling that ship over there?" She pointed in it's direction. The Than nodded and they began negotiating on the price.   
********************  
A few hours earlier on the Andromeda...  
  
"Dylan! Dylan! Wake up!"  
  
Dylan grunted. "Huh? Wha? Oh, what is it Rommie?"  
  
"Trance just left in a slipfighter."  
  
"What?!" Dylan was fully awake now. "Why didn't you stop her?"  
  
"She got out before I could close the hangar doors." The hologram replied.  
  
Dylan got out of bed and put on some clothes.   
  
"She left a message. Shall I play it?"  
  
"Of course, Andromeda."  
  
Trance's face appeared on a screen. "Hello Dylan. I'm sorry I had to leave so quickly and on such short notice but I have no choice. I'm needed somewhere else. I won't be returning to the Andromeda so I would like to thank you for your kindness. You have been a wonderful friend and a fine Captain. I hope you succeed in restoring the Commonwealth." A tear ran down Trance's cheek. "Goodbye." The screen went blank.  
  
Dylan shook his head. He couldn't understand it. "When she left she sent me a transmission with the name and the co-ordinates of a station that she was going to so we could pick up the slipfighter."  
  
Dylan turned to face the hologram. "Change your course. We're going to that station."  
********************  
Trance stood in her new one person ship. She took a deep breath and strapped herself into the pilot's chair. She left the station and entered slipstream. She made four slipstream jumps before she reached the system she wanted. She checked the sensor screen. Yes, this was the right system. She stood up and moved towards the window near the back of the ship. She stared out and saw the system she had first entered when she had come into this world. She remembered how scared she had been. She had heard the stories the first explorers told when they came here about 300 years ago. She had heard about how this world was torn by war and she was afraid she had escaped one war only to enter into another. Though no war could be as bad as the one she had left behind. The war on her planet was a civil war. She shook her head. 'Don't think about that. It's over now.' She gazed at the stars, taking her last look at this world. She moved away from the window and sat in the pilot's chair again. She entered slipstream for the last time. As she traveled she watched for the place that would take her home. The only way someone could see it was if they had her ability to see the possibilities. She saw it and made a hard turn right, a turn which most people would consider suicide because it headed straight towards the wall of the slipstream. She then turned upwards into a opening and entered her world. A world inside the slipstream.  
  
A small crowd of people ran up to her ship as she got out, yelling greetings in her own language. Her mother appeared out of nowhere. "Mother!" Trance gasped and then realized no one could understand her. She then repeated herself in her own language. Her mother hugged her as if she would never let her go. "My dear Trance. I'm so glad you're safe. I was afraid you might be killed by those monsters on the other side."  
  
"They're not monsters Mother. They were in the middle of a war. Just like we were."  
  
"Please don't talk about war Trance."  
  
A small hand gripped the bottom of Trance's T-shirt. She looked down and saw a small child that she didn't know. The child looked up at her with bright blue eyes. "You dress funny." The pale blue skinned child said to her. The crowd laughed. "This is the way we dress on the other side." Trance replied.  
  
"Come Trance. We'll take you home." Her mother said and led her away. Trance looked around at the familiar surroundings of her home. The dark blue sky and the purple ground. Everything in her home was a form of purple, blue and maybe with a hint of white. The colours of the slipstream. The only thing that wasn't those colours were the plants. They had fascinated Trance when she was very young because they were all different colours. She bent down to see a flower that only grew here. "Trance do you still love plants?" Her mother asked.   
  
"Yes. They're pretty."  
  
Her mother smiled. "Come my darling. Your father has been waiting for you."  
  
"You said he was sick. Is he alright?"  
  
"Today is one of his better days."  
  
"What's wrong with him?"  
  
Her mother shook her head. "I don't know dear."  
  
"Could I help him? I'm very good with medical stuff."  
  
"Of course darling but no one knows what his illness is. Half the village is sick with it."  
  
They reached the house. Trance's mother opened the door and they entered. Trance look around in surprise. Almost all of the furniture was gone. The carpets were worn away. "I know it looks different but you get used to it Trance. We had to trade with the others for food and clothes."  
  
Trance nodded and headed for her parents room where she had heard the most dreadful coughing. She opened the door "Father?", she said tentatively.  
  
"Trance?", her father replied. Trance ventured closer. "Trance!" he said and took her in his arms and hugged her. She smiled for the first time since leaving the Andromeda. "Father. I missed you."  
  
"I missed you t-" a huge coughing fit prevented him from finishing his sentence.  
  
"OK. Take it easy. Let's see if we can figure out what's wrong with you."  
  
"No one in the village knows Trance. How could you know when you've been away for so long?"  
  
"Well I've treated alot of diseases over the last few years. One of my friends has a dodgy immune system. He catches almost everything he runs into." She smiled thinking about all the times Harper had ended up on Med. Deck and all his moans and complaints.  
  
"Your friend?"  
  
"Yes, my friend. His name is Harper. He's an engineer."  
  
"I thought I warned you about the people on the other side."  
  
"Yes but these peo-"  
  
"They're dangerous Trance. They're vicious and uncaring."   
"How do you know? Because of some stories you heard from the people who went there over 300 years ago?!" Trance said defensively. "My friends are kind. They're trying to restore the Commonwealth."  
  
"The what?"  
  
"The Commonwealth. It was destroyed in the war over 300 years ago. It was a peaceful society. At least that's what Dylan and Rommie told me."  
  
"Dylan and Rommie? Are they more of your 'friends'?"   
  
"Yes."  
  
"How many more 'friends' have you?"  
  
"Well there's 14 on Andromeda not including me but Tyr and I aren't really friends. Well, we are but we're not. You know?"  
  
"No I don't know."  
  
"We watch each others backs and look out for each other but we don't know that much bout each other."  
  
"Do the others know about us?"  
  
"No. I didn't tell them anything about myself. It made things kinda awkward at times though." Trance didn't dare admit that she'd told them she could see the possibilities.  
  
"It's for the best Trance. We don't want those.... people here."  
  
Trance nodded. She was to afraid to tell them where she was from anyway. They would be killed if they came here.   
  
  



	4. Discovery

  
Trance walked through the village towards her house. She had been to all the houses whose inhabitants were ill. She thought she recognised the symptoms but the only way to know for sure was to check her ships database. She entered her home and was greeted by the rasping cough coming from her fathers room. She opened the door and entered. Her mother was sitting beside the bed trying to bring down his temperature. "Mother?"  
  
The woman looked up at her. "Yes dear?"  
  
"Um can I examine Father again? I think I know what's wrong with him I just need to double-check and then see if the symptoms match what's on the database on my ship."  
  
"I can check that information for you. You can look after him. It will save you some time."  
  
Trance nodded and turned back to her father checking his vital signs. Her mother left the house and walked to the ship. She entered the space craft and jumped at what she saw. A young human female with ginger-coloured hair and emerald-green eyes stared at her and yelled something she didn't understand. The woman yelled back in her own language and called for help. Others in the village heard her screams and came out to investigate. They grabbed the girl and dragged her into the village. Trance heard the commotion and came out to see what was going on. She saw Isis in the middle of a crowd of her people looking scared out of her wits. "Wait! Stop!" Trance yelled at them. She ran to the crowd and took hold of Isis' arm. "Are you OK?" she asked the girl.  
  
"Trance? Trance what's going on? Where am I?" Isis said fearfully.  
  
The people stared at the two of them. "Trance who is this?" Her mother questioned.  
  
Trance looked at her. "This is one of my friends from the Andromeda. Her name is Isis and-"  
  
"You brought her here?! Trance you know that no one from the other side is to come here. We can't risk her telling her people about this place. She must be dealt with accordingly and you as well my child."  
  
Isis stared at the purple woman. She could tell she was angry even though she couldn't understand what was being said. Trance yelled something back at the woman. Isis' eyes scanned the rest of the crowd. All of them were staring at her with fear and hatred in their eyes, their tails moving angrily in the air. Isis looked at the ground. She didn't understand what was going on. All she knew was she had followed Trance to, firstly, apologise to her for what had happened at dinner and secondly, to tell her she didn't have to leave the Andromeda because Isis would leave her alone about where she came from. She didn't know how she had gotten here and she didn't even know where here was. She guessed she was on Trance's planet. There was a pause in the yelling and Isis looked up again. Trance whispered to her "You're going to have to go with them for now but I promise I'll get you out of this Isis. You have to trust me."  
  
Isis nodded. She was too scared to do anything else. She was brought into a house and locked in the basement. She sat in the darkness, trying to figure out what would happen next.   
  
Trance watched as Isis was being lead away. She couldn't believe this had happened. She turned to her mother and said "Mother she's just a girl. She can't harm us. Please let her go."  
  
"No Trance. You know we can't do that, we have to follow the law. You must also be punished for bringing her here."  
  
"But Mother. She's not even an adult yet. Isis is only sixteen. She has her whole life ahead of her and she'll do so many great things in the universe."  
  
"She should have thought about that before she came here."  
  
"She doesn't know where here is!" Trance turned on her heel and started towards the house they had taken Isis to. "Trance what are you doing?" her mother yelled at her.  
  
Trance ignored her and headed towards the house. She entered and moved to the door to the basement. It was locked. Trance examined the possibilities and went into the kitchen. The key was hanging on a hook. Trance grabbed it and unlocked the door. Isis looked up. Fear was etched across her face. "Trance? Trance where are we? What's going on? Why was I put down here?"   
  
"Isis it's OK."   
  
"No it's not. Trance enough with the secrecy where are we?"  
  
"You're in my world, Isis. This is my home."  
  
"I sorta thought that when I saw all those people with purple or blue skin and tails. Not very friendly are they?"  
  
"We don't like strangers. We first saw all the other races when they were in the middle of the war against the Nietzscheans. We were convinced that you were dangerous and cruel so we forbid anyone to leave this place."  
  
"Then how did you manage to leave?"  
  
"There was a disagreement in our.....government I suppose is the equivalent in your language. Neither side would budge and eventually it led to a war. I considered the possibilities and I saw that it would be better if I left. I wouldn't make a difference here but I could make a difference out in your world... so I left."   
  
"Yes and then you left the Andromeda. I'm sorry Trance about what happened at dinner but you didn't have to leave because of it."  
  
"I didn't. I got a transmission from my mother, telling me that the war was over and my father was sick. She said I could come home."  
  
"You could have said something." Isis' voice was harsh.  
  
"I couldn't....you would have asked too many questions."  
  
"Yeah and you could've just blown them off like you did all the time." Isis was clearly becoming angry. She hadn't liked being locked in the basement. It reminded her too much of the time she had spent aboard Nietzschean slave ships.   
  
A loud angry voice spoke from the doorway, saying something Isis couldn't understand. Trance turned to the voice and argued back. Five of Trance's people came down the steps and grabbed Isis. "Trance what's going on?" Isis said   
  
"You're going to the village council. You're very lucky. I convinced them to give you a chance to defend yourself."  
  
"But I don't understand what they're saying."  
  
Trance followed the group. "I'll translate for you."  
  
Isis was brought to a large building where she was put before a group of six people. They spoke to her and Trance translated.  
  
"Human. You have come to our world where you are not welcome. What do you have to say for yourself?"  
  
"I didn't come here on purpose," Isis said shakily. "I saw Trance leaving and I followed her to try and convince her to stay. She's our friend and we need her on the Andromeda."   
  
Trance translated what Isis had said. There was silence in the room. One of the council members asked Trance a question and Trance replied with a nod. The council member turned to Isis and said something that Trance translated as, "You said Trance was your friend. She says that's true. But what I am wondering is do you humans even know what friendship is and are you even capable of it?"  
  
"I thought you said I was here to defend myself?" Isis said to Trance.  
  
Trance nodded. "You are. They're trying to figure out if you are what I say you are. If you prove their idea of you wrong they might give you a light punishment."  
  
"A lighter punishment? What's the harder punishment?"  
  
Trance looked at the ground and then back at Isis. "Death."  
  
  
  
  



End file.
